End of an SEC era.

The last two years the SEC has done exceptionally well in bowl games overall. Despite going 0-5 in the top-level bowls, they're only barely behind the Pac-12 in bowl winning percentage. Of course, I think the 0-5 looms large when judging the overall strength of the conference. The SEC still has the kind of depth we've been accustom to seeing but the top tier of the conference isn't superior to the rest of the nation's top-tier.

I think the quality of talent has kinda hurt the SEC as even more 3rd year or 4th year redshirt players are going to the pros. The top-tier NFL talent is largely concentrated in the South and the change of the NFL contract rules has disincentivized "waiting for the 1st round" for "playing to get paid in the 2nd contract." The amount of early departures LSU and Alabama have lost in the last few years is truly staggering. It is a trend across the conference though. The SEC has to lead the nation on Junior entries in the NFL draft. I think this is a big piece of why our top-tier hasn't been appreciably better to the rest the last few years. You can only lose a Junior DB so many years in a row before you end up with secondaries like Alabama's the last few years. Couple in some recruiting misses earlier in this decade at DB and you have the core of our problems this season. Worth noting that OL recruiting dipped/whiffed in this time period too and our drop off as a physical run team is similar to the DB problems.

The seven-year reign will probably never happen again because it took a unique set of circumstances to bring it about. Consider this: if Ohio State had not been on probation in 2012, the streak would have ended at six. If USC makes ONE PLAY against UCLA in 2006, it doesn't even begin. The 2007 title was the kind of fluke nobody can prepare for - team after team after team losing when all they need to do is win to make the game. The golden era of BCS dominance by the SEC was really 2008-2011 (when two SEC teams made it). That's not to take away from our 2012 title - but without violations at Ohio State, we never win that one.

Granted - it is POSSIBLE now more so than before because odds are that at least one SEC team will make it every year. There was no guarantee of that in the BCS. But I wouldn't bet on it.


And if a team doesn't show up to play its A game in a playoff, it has no business winning a championship anyway.

Doubtful that 7 in a row will ever be duplicated again, maybe not even close, but I think the SEC's dominance will continue. I mean, why not? The Southeast plainly produces the best players in the nation and we take real good of our coaches down here.

The SEC is far from dead, that's just wishful thinking by the rest of CFB.

2014 is nothing more than a speed bump.

TommyMac said:

Doubtful that 7 in a row will ever be duplicated again, maybe not even close, but I think the SEC's dominance will continue. I mean, why not? The Southeast plainly produces the best players in the nation and we take real good of our coaches down here.

The SEC is far from dead, that's just wishful thinking by the rest of CFB.

2014 is nothing more than a speed bump.

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Agreed. 7 in a row will NEVER be duplicated again. Period. Not even by the SEC. Sure, the SEC may get two in a row here and there, or 2 out of 3, something like that, but not 7 in a row again. The SEC is still the best conference, hands down. It's just that other programs outside of the Southeast are in fact, on the rise.

CrimsonForce said:

I was more specifically talking about a single conference winning the NC for 7 years in a row and having a team from that conference in the NC game 8 years in a row. IMO that will not happen again..

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I've always said I'm not a betting man. If I were though, I'd be willing to bet that the SEC will win another 7 NC titles in a row before any other conference can manage to win 3 NC titles in a row. That is, if I were a betting man.

Bama Reb said:

I've always said I'm not a betting man. If I were though, I'd be willing to bet that the SEC will win another 7 NC titles in a row before any other conference can manage to win 3 NC titles in a row. That is, if I were a betting man.

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I would probably agree with that but I don't either will happen any time soon..

TideFan in AU said:

Well, seeing it had never been done in over 100 years of football before the SEC's reign started in 2006, it is a pretty good bet that it will never happen again in our lifetime, maybe ever.

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I guess that depends on how long life on Earth continues. If an asteroid knocks us out in 40 years, it's probably not happening. If we have no apocalyptic events and life on Earth continues for millions of years with CFB continuing as well, then it will probably happen.

CoastGhost said:

When somebody else rips off 7 nation championships in a row, call me.

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Not just the recent 7. I posted a year or two ago the number of SEC titles over a 5, 10, 20, 25, 30, 40, and 50 year span. It was about 50% of the time over the last 25 years and about 1/3 of the last 50 years. Tell me when THAT reign ends.

People outside of the SEC are going to make a big deal about what happened in the big bowl games this year- they have been waiting a long time for the opportunity. But the reality is that neither Ole Miss nor Miss St were top 6-7 teams this year- The Rebels season basically ended with the loss of Treadwell and the game to Auburn. TCU and Ole Miss playing in early October is a completely different game. Miss St playing Georgia Tech was simply a bad match up for a team that was never as good as believed by themselves or the media.

Auburn plays Wisconsin after firing the their D coordinator and basically without their 2 best receivers in Willams and Coates. An loses in overtime.

Bama lost a game to very good OSU team coached by one of the best coaches in the country. With Sims playing his worse game and with a team which was overall probably the youngest and least experienced team Saban has had in 6 years. Early entry into the draft ( Sunseri and Clinton Dix) and a less than 100 percent Eddie Jackson resulted in a very vulnerable secondary.

Let the rest of the country have their fun- the conference will soon make amends. And I think everyone else knows that- that is why they are reveling in this right now.

What is even more amazing is that during that same time that the SEC won 7 consecutive national championships in football (2006-2012), the conference won a combined total 13 titles in the big three sports. Football, baseball, and basketball. The SEC didn't win any national titles in the big three in 2013, but picked back up where they left off with Vanderbilt winning the baseball national title in 2014. So, since 2006, that is 14 national championships. There is definitely no other scenario where a single conference has won multiple titles in multiple sports, all in a time that spanned less than a decade.

We_are_Bama said:

What is even more amazing is that during that same time that the SEC won 7 consecutive national championships in football (2006-2012), the conference won a combined total 13 titles in the big three sports. Football, baseball, and basketball. The SEC didn't win any national titles in the big three in 2013, but picked back up where they left off with Vanderbilt winning the baseball national title in 2014. So, since 2006, that is 14 national championships. There is definitely no other scenario where a single conference has won multiple titles in multiple sports, all in a time that spanned less than a decade.

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And I think it was in 2012 that UA won NC titles in 6 different sports in a single year. How many other SEC schools can say that? How many schools of any conference can say that?
Just sayin...